


Deal with the Devil

by jane_fucking_seymour



Category: Six - Marlow/Moss
Genre: witch!AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-23
Updated: 2019-09-24
Packaged: 2020-10-26 23:17:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20750405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jane_fucking_seymour/pseuds/jane_fucking_seymour
Summary: Anne Boleyn was convicted of many things, but only one of those was true. Now, Anne must reveal her true nature to the others in order to save them all from the wrath of Henry, who has returned with a terrifying new ally.





	1. I Cast A Spell On You

Katherine Howard was tired.

The girl yawned as she sat on the stage that evening, leaning against Anna’s legs as she sat on her throne. They were working a bit later than usual to work on some new blocking for Parr during her solo.

Anna had been paying close attention to Parr until she felt the weight of the girl in front of her against her legs. She looked down as Kat looked up at her, a goofy smile on her face.

“Hello,” Kat mumbles quietly.

“Hey,” Anna replies. She starts playing with the girl’s hair and Kat immediately closes her eyes, smiling even wider at the sensation.

Jane was a bit more lax, not completely keeping an eye on Kat since they were in rehearsal and she was with Anna, but she couldn’t help but smile softly when she saw Kat’s hand fall from her lap down to her side; the girl had dozed off, again.

“She can honestly sleep anywhere,” Aragon notes from the opposite side of Jane. Jane chuckles and nods.

“Not sure how she does it, to be honest,” Jane replies.

“Alright, ladies,” the choreographer says. “Just Jane’s solo, then we’re good.”

Parr seems to be just as tired as she sits next to Aragon, her head on her godmother’s shoulder.

“Tired, love?” Aragon asked, to which Parr nodded with a yawn. “We’ll be out soon.”

Jane stands up, walking over to the choreographer… but then she stops.

She sees him.

In the back.

She doesn’t even pay attention to the work, she just stares at the guy.

“Aragon,” she says suddenly. “Get the others out of here.”

Aragon has noticed him, too, and was quick to pick up Parr and rush off stage. Anna simply carried Kat off, who awoke with a start and whined softly in confusion as she tried to make sense of what was happening.

The choreographer looks confused for a moment before she sees the man.

“Go, dear,” Jane says gently. “Quickly now, back with the others.”

The girl does so.

Boleyn, for her part, stood next to Jane.

“Anne-“ Jane starts, but Boleyn shakes her head.

“You’re not doin’ this alone, Janey,” Anne replies. They never take their eyes off of him. 

“This is the welcome I get?” He asks, wandering down a side aisle. He smiles darkly at the girls in front of him. “My ex-wives rushing off stage at the sight of me?”

“What do you want, Henry?” Jane asks, voice cold. She sees Anne tremble a bit, but she can’t give away that fear. Not right now.

“I’m just looking for a little family reunion, darling-“ he says, but he’s cut off.

“You need to leave,” Anne says. “You’re not welcomed here.”

There’s a dangerous glint in his eyes. “I don’t think you get to decide that, love.”

“I’m calling the police if you don’t leave,” Jane says, taking out her phone.

Anne keeps an eye on Henry as Jane texts the other queens to make sure they’re ok. His eyes seem to glow for a moment before he waves his hand, which is also glowing. Jane looks up when Anne pulls her backwards, not wanting whatever it was Henry was doing to catch her off guard.

“Witchcraft!” Anne yells, eyes wide. “You’ve resorted to witchcraft, Henry?”

“Some powerful magicks so ancient they are even older than us, Anne,” he says, smirking devilishly.

Anne steps forward, hiding Jane. “You’ve truly abandoned god if you would sink so low as to use forbidden arts like this. That’s not regular magick. That’s evil.”

“You lot left me no choice,” he says with a shrug. “You’ll suffer for it. You all will.”

Anne narrows her eyes, but then she hears two large “THUMPs” from the wings. She looks back and gasps.

Aragon and Cleves are unconscious.

Standing over them is Parr and Katherine.

“Girls? What’s happened-“ Jane starts to move towards them, but Anne pulls Seymour back.

“Don’t” she says quietly. “He’s done something.”

“Are you sure you weren’t a witch in the first life Anne?” He teases. “You seem to know a lot about magicks.”

Anne says nothing, just watches the two standing women in the wings. Both have half-lidded eyes, are sweating and shaking, and seem to not really notice what’s happening. Katherine lets out some sort of pitiful wheeze - is it hard to breathe for her? - and Parr is definitely in some sort of distress.

“What have you done to them?” Anne asks, turning to walk towards Henry. Just as she gets to the edge of the stage, she’s suddenly yanked backwards.

She doesn’t even register the punch from Katherine Howard. She falls to the ground unconscious a moment later.

“Katherine!” Jane says harshly, both from shock. She moves to try to wake Anne up. “What’s gotten into you?!?”

Parr and Katherine move to Henry as he gets onto the stage.

“Now that that’s over,” he quips, smiling. “You’re coming with me, Jane.”

Jane blinks. “What?”

“You’ll be coming with me and we’ll be making the life we should have had,” he explains.

Jane frowns, watching Kat and Parr. They’re clearly not themselves. If Jane went with them, she might be able to snap them out of this… or at least keep track of them and hope for an opportunity to break them of the spell.

“… fine,” she says. “But don’t hurt anyone else.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” he quips, moving over to her and cupping her cheek. “We’ll have lots of fun together, my love. Finally.”

Anna of Cleves is the first to wake up.

She groans a hand to her head; she doesn’t remember this morning. She isn’t sure how she got here; where even was here?

She looks up to see the choreographer and Bessie standing over her, looking incredibly concerned. She looks around: Maria is desperately trying to get Aragon to wake up while Joan and Maggie have seemingly successfully woken up Anne.

“What’s happened?” Cleves mumbles; she’s still so tired, she wants to close her eyes again.

“You tell us,” Bessie replies softly. “We came in to find you lot passed out on the stage. We don’t know where the others have gone.”

Cleves nods quietly, eyes closing. Bessie gently taps her cheek.

“No falling asleep just yet,” Bessie says. “We’ll get you all to the hospital. Promise.”

Bessie looks back to Maria, who is getting more and more frantic trying to wake her queen up. She’s speaking in Spanish now - a clear sign that she’s scared - but Aragon won’t wake up.

“Shit,” the choreographer says.

Bessie turns back to her queen, only to find that she’s unconscious again. She can’t be woken.

Meanwhile, Maggie has successfully gotten Anne to stir, smiling in relief when she does.

“Anne?” She asks gently. “Are you okay?”

Anne groans, blinking awake slowly. She looks up at Maggie for a moment before a hand goes to her head. “She’s really good at punching, that one.”

“Who?”

“Kat.”

“Katherine punched you?!?”

“She didn’t mean it, I don’t think.”

Anne slowly gets to her feet, eyes wide when she sees the other two queens.

“They can’t wake up, Anne,” Maria says through tears. “What’s happened?”

“Henry’s back,” Anne replies. “And he’s… he’s abandoned any light. He bewitched Kat and Parr and… I can only assume he did the same to Jane. Or maybe she went as a prisoner or something, I don’t know. Kat knocked me out before I could do anything.”

Joan nods. “We have to find them, then.”

Maggie frowns, watching as Maria so tightly embraced Aragon, broken sobs muffled through the Spanish queen’s shirt as her lady in waiting begged for the girl to wake up. Bessie, too, was heavily distressed, mumbling soft words into Cleves’s ears to try to rouse her. Neither queens responded to their lady’s calls.

Maggie shook her head in dispair.

“How do we find them?”

No one had an answer.

Jane Seymour sat quietly in between Parr and Kat in the back of an unmarked white van, Henry smiling to himself at the wheel. He’s going on and on about how great their lives will be, how he plans on utilizing his new powers, how he’ll keep Kat and Parr under his spell for the rest of eternity.

Jane, however, wasn’t completely concentrating. She looked to Parr, examining the girl. She was wincing every few seconds, trembling and sweating as if she had a high fever. Her hands twitched and every few minutes it looked like she was trying to say something, but no words came out.

Katherine was equally as concerning. The girl looked dead, eyes glassy and body trembling as well, but instead of twitching, she seemed completely lifeless. It reminded Jane of the girl’s panic attacks when no one came to help her.

While responding to Henry’s quips and keeping him satisfied, Jane gently pulled Parr to rest on her shoulder while positioning Kat to put her head in her lap, having taken off Kat’s jacket to make her a pillow. This seemed to help, with the trembling lessening significantly for both.

Henry had gone quiet now, but with so much sound and jostling coming from the roads, Jane decides to take a chance and try to wake Parr up.

“Cathy? It’s Jane,” she says. “Wake up, love. I need you here.”

Parr shutters, eyelids fluttering. The girl looked so tired.

“Hurts,” Parr mumbles.

“I know, my love,” Jane says gently. “But Katherine is injured. And I think Aragon wasn’t awake, either. We’re all hurt and I need help to get us out of this.”

Parr seems to wake up a bit more, then. She tries to say something, but Jane gently puts a hand over her mouth to silence her; Henry’s pulled over, wherever they are.

“I’ll be right back,” Henry says. “Don’t go anywhere.”

Of course, as soon as Jane heard him leave, she quickly brought her attention back to Parr.

“I need you awake, my love,” Jane says gently. “We need to get Kat out of here and I can’t carry you both.”

“Kat?” Parr asks.

“Kit-Kat. Katherine Howard. Remember?” Jane tries, and the spark of recognition is a good one.

Parr blinks blearily. “Kat.”

“Yes.”

Parr suddenly doubles over, a hand to her head. It hurt too much to think, but Katherine and the others are in trouble.

“We… gotta go,” Parr mumbles, wincing in pain. “He’ll be back soon.”

Jane nods, standing up. She’s quick to unlock the doors of the van and open the back one.

They seem to still be in the city. Thank god.

Parr jumps out first, stumbling, as Jane carries Kat. They manage to round the corner a moment later, successfully moving through a few people to make it into an alleyway. It’s then that Parr collapses, falling to the ground with so little warning that Jane couldn’t react in time.

As if it couldn’t get any worse, she hears him.

“JANE!”

She pulls Parr to the side, hiding them from direct view as she pulls out her phone; he hadn’t taken anything from her, surprisingly enough. She isn’t sure who to call for a moment before she decides to just call Joan.

She answers in a moment.

“Where are you?” Joan asks. No time for pleasantries.

“I don’t know,” Jane admits. “But he’s still around. He’s looking for us.”

“You can share your location with us, Lady Jane,” says another voice; Maggie. Maggie talks her through it and, sure enough, they’re a few blocks from the theater.

“He must have gotten lost or something,” Jane mumbles.

“Or he just doesn’t know how to drive,” Maggie replies. “I got a news update on my phone about how there’s a guy in a white van crashing into other cars.”

Jane frowns but nods. “Just hurry. Parr and Kat are in really bad shape.”

“We’ll be there in five,” Joan says. “We’re at the hospital.”

“For the others?” Jane asks.

“Yeah. I’ll explain later. Stay on the line,” Joan says.

“I will, but- what… what we were talking about?”

“You have to stay on the line with us,” Joan says calmly. “Do you not remember?”

“What’s going on?” Jane asks, clearly confused. Maggie looks helplessly at Joan.

“Jane-“

The line goes dead.

They rush as fast as they can to the spot.

The phone is there, but no one else is.

A few blocks away, at the hospital, Anne Boleyn has had enough. With a silent meditation, she moves over to Aragon and, with her eyes glowing gently, she lays her hand on Aragon’s forehead. The girl awakens with a soft sigh.

Anne gives her a nervous smile. Aragon should know what she just did.

“Hello,” Anne says gently.

Aragon frowns. “What-“

“I can’t really explain everything, but basically…” she holds out her hand and, suddenly, an orb appears above it, hovering over her hand. Aragon can see Jane, Parr and Kat, sitting in what looks like the back of a truck.

“If we don’t help them, we’re going to be in serious trouble.”


	2. And Now You're Mine

“So you’re… you’re _actually_ a witch?”

Anne walked with Aragon towards Cleves’ room, a scowl on her face. 

“Yeah, he was right on that and he was 100% guessing when he did that,” Anne says quietly, moving over to Anna. With a glow in her eyes, she does the same thing to Anna that she did to Aragon: a gentle hand on Anna’s forehead, a gentle glow of her hands, and now Anna was blinking awake.

Aragon’s jaw is practically on the floor.

“Holy-”

“Catalina!”

Catherine and Anne look back to find none other than Maria de Salina at the doorway. She’s slightly out of breath, fairly panicked, but when she spots Catherine… well, the queens aren’t entirely sure that she’s breathing.

“Maria,” Aragon says. She’s quick to go to her lady in waiting, gently pulling her in. “I heard you, you know. In the dark.”

Maria’s eyes go wide and she can’t help but let the tears flow as she embraces Aragon tightly. She’s speaking in Spanish - something about thanking god. Aragon smiles down at the girl, whispering things in Spanish.

Anne turns away and focuses on Anna to give them a moment to collect themselves.

“What’s happened?” Anna asks, clearly way more alert.

“Something bad,” Anne replies. She looks over at the sleeping Bessie and Maggie. They were curled up on the oversized windowsill, Maggie leaning against Bessie as they rested. Joan, for her part, was asleep on the chair next to Anna’s cot. “It already spread, eh?”

“What?” Anna asks, but then Anne goes and releases the others from the spell as well.

“The spell he put you under,” Anne says, clearing Joan, “it wasn’t meant to just take you out. It was to take all of us out.”

“I’m sorry, the spell? Witchcraft?” Anna asks with a frown. 

Anne nods, awakening Bessie. “He tried to get all of us in one swoop. But he didn’t know about me.”

“Are you really a witch, then?” Aragon asks, moving closer with Maria following immediately behind. 

Anne gives Maggie a small smile as she comes to, gently smoothing out the girl’s hair. “Yeah. All the Boleyn’s were.“

Maggie registers the words and her eyes widen in fear. Anne gently shushes her before she has a chance to respond. “It’s alright, Mags. They deserve to know.”

“You knew?” Joan asks, tilting her head at Maggie.

Maggie frowns. “I’m sorry, I just… it’s a promise I’ve kept for centuries now,” she admits. “I didn’t want anyone to hurt her.”

“It’s alright, love,” Bessie says quietly. “We probably would have done the same thing.” Despite not being bound to their service, all of the ladies in waiting felt compelled to protect their queen above all else. Bessie didn’t blame Maggie one bit; if it was Anna, she would do the exact same in a heartbeat.

Aragon frowns. "Wait, so, did you really bewitch Henry to fall in love with you?”

Boleyn shoots her a look. “Bold of you to assume he’s worth wasting ingredients and spells on." 

Aragon can’t help but smile at that. "How did he know about it, then?" 

Anne shrugged. "He didn’t. He just used it as an excuse. He just happened to be correct.” A beat. “Well, _I_ didn’t bewitch him. My sister, Mary? She did. Quite a bit. But just for fun.”

“Did you use any magicks at all?” Joan can’t help but ask.

Anne shakes her head. “I… I never liked it. All the magicks. I never used destruction magicks, never did a mind manip.” Anne sighs. “I did a lot more defensive, healing stuff.”

Aragon doesn’t totally believe her. “Really?”

Anne looks her in the eye. “I really didn’t mean to hurt anyone.”

Aragon watches her carefully before she just nods. “Alright, well. In that case…” she looks over at Anna, who is getting out of the cot. Bessie gently moves Maggie and moves to her queen. “Let’s give Anna some space while she gets ready. If we’re all feeling better - and it seems like it’s the case - we should be discharged now.”

And, soon enough, they were heading out of the hospital and headed back home, ladies in waiting in tow.

They enter the house and Anne leads them to her room. She smirks a bit and looks over at Maggie. Maggie looks excited. 

“This is my favorite part,” Maggie says, looking up at Joan.

Anne stands in front of her closet, eyes closed as she focuses. Her pointer and middle finger of her right hand glow and seem to leave a trail of magickal energy as she draws a sigil on her wall. As she does so, the wind seems to pick up out of nowhere. Her hair is flying in the wind as she finishes the sigil - her personal symbol - before she extends her right hand and presses against the magickal seal. It pulses with magickal energy before it disappears. The winds quiet down.

Maria tilts her head. “What did she do?”

Maggie winks. “You’ll see!”

Sure enough, when Anne opens the closet - the one that Aragon and Anna know is usually full of clothing and shoes and normal things - it seems to be bigger on the inside. Inside looks like a library, but some shelves have jars of ingredients and weird objects around them. At the center of the hall is a glowing, floating orb of light.

“Come on in, ladies,” Anne says. Maggie smiles brightly and, taking Maria’s hand, rushes inside. The other ladies in waiting follow and Maggie is excitedly talking about the various shelves and objects and potions and books.

Anna whistles lowly.

“Impressive thing you’ve got here,” Anna says, looking at Anne as they enter the closet.

Aragon is in awe. “Where even are we?”

"This place is based in a place called Weston,” Anne says. “A very powerful witch helped me create this place.”

“You know more people like you?” Aragon asks, tilting her head.

Anne nods. “There’s loads of us, all over the place. Some of us… we just don’t like showing it. For obvious reasons.”

Anna looks over at where the ladies in waiting were; Maggie is showing the others a book while the others huddle close to read it. “Is Maggie-”

“She’s not,” Anne confirms, “but she makes a great assistant. She can prepare potions and ingredients and spells and paper sigils better than some witches. She just can’t activate them herself. That’s where I come in.”

“When did she find out you were a witch?” Aragon asks as they move to the brilliant, faintly glowing orb in the middle of the place.

“The week after she became my lady in waiting, actually,” Anne replied. “I, uh… well, to be fair, I didn’t actually mean to show her. But it’s fine now.”

She looks up at the orb. “This can help us track the others.”

Aragon nods. “What can we do to help?”

Anne smiles at her. “Just catch me later.”

With that, Anne raises her hands towards the orb and touches it. Her eyes go full of light and some of the energy from the orb flows into her body. She’s mumbling things - a prayer? It sounds like it to Aragon - and, suddenly, the orb is emitting a blinding light.

A moment later, though, it’s revealing something- no, some_one_.

“Jane!” Joan yells, quickly moving over to the others.

Sure enough, Jane and Katherine and Parr can be seen. They all tense; Parr is shaking rather violently, Katherine isn’t moving at all and Jane is not-so-gently banging her head against a nearby wall, groaning in pain. 

“The spells they’re under are definitely dark magicks,” Maggie observes, “but they’re also pretty shoddily done. He doesn’t know what he’s doing. They shouldn’t be reacting to spells like that; it means he’s either done it halfway or with terrible preparation, poor things.”

Joan tries to reach out to touch the orb, but Maggie pulls her back.

“Don’t, that can hurt Anne,” Maggie says. “Besides, we can’t interact. It’s not a portal. Anne needs to know where they are in order to set up a portal.”

“So that’s why we’re here,” Aragon replies. “For information?”

“Exactly.” Maggie confirms, looking back at the image. “Is there anything anyone can recognize?”

They are all silent for a moment.

“It’s light out, it looks like,” Bessie says. “So maybe they’re not too far.”

“Sounds like they’re close to a high traffic area,” Joan notes.

“Maybe they’re close to where we found Jane’s phone?” Maggie suggests, looking at the others. “That van the police found, it looked incredible smashed. Maybe he hasn’t found a new vehicle yet?”

“It’s a start,” Anna says with a nod. “Is there any way we can track him outside of this?”

“He’s using magicks, so Anne should be able to.” Maggie says, looking as image fades. Anne slowly floats down to the ground, her body no longer engulfed in light. Her eyes slowly close as they return to normal and she sways backwards…

… but luckily, Aragon is there to catch her.

Anne sighs in relief. “Thanks, Catherine.”

Aragon nods with a soft smile before she looks over at the others. “Is he part of your… coven, I guess?”

Anne shakes her head a bit tiredly. “He didn’t know I was a witch. He’s a warlock, anyhow, we don’t interact.”

“Is a warlock a male witch?” Joan asks.

Maggie pipes up on that one, a bit too excited to share information given the situation. “You’re thinking sorcerer, though many male witches just use witch anyways. A warlock is a former human that made a deal with a patron - think a lesser god, or a powerful being - for powers in exchange for something. Usually, people become who become warlocks do so to save their lives or for revenge. When the revenge is fulfilled - or when their patron decides it’s time to collect - they are indentured to that patron forever.”

“So what,” Maria asks, trying to wrap her head around this, “Henry just… signed his life away for his powers?”

“Not his life,” Anne says, standing up now. Aragon still keeps light hold of her, just in case. “His very soul. It’s a dark magick contract, he… he’s fallen so far from the light if he chose to take on something like that.” 

“That probably also means that he’s really driven to whatever goal he has in mind,” Maggie adds. “So we need to be careful.”

“Alright,” Anne says. “We’ve done what we needed to do. Maggie, can you grab some protection sigils and some of the ingredients for protection potions and spells? We’ll need them, likely.”

“Right away, Anne,” she says with a soft bow. 

“I’ll help you,” Joan offers. Bessie is right behind them as they move away.

Maria, unsurprisingly, keeps close to Aragon. 

“Alright,” Anne says, moving towards the exit. “We should get going into the Square. We can track everyone from there, I think.”

“How sure are you that we can find them?” Aragon asks, tilting her head.

Anne smiles. “He’s sloppy, that’s what we’ve learned from watching how the others are affected by his spells. His energy should be all over that damned place. We’ll track it and go from there.” Anne looks back at Maggie. “When you’re done, close it up, please. I’m just going to take the other queens for this one.”

“Of course, Anne,” Maggie says. “Stay safe, all of you.”

Bessie moves over to her mistress and hugs her. “Come back in one piece, alright?” she asks. Then, softer, so the others can’t hear: “You need to come back in one piece.”

“I will, Bessie, don’t worry,” Cleves assures her. “Just keep an eye on the others. We’re all gonna protect each other, alright?”

“Of course,” Bessie nods.

Maria, meanwhile, is very much against the idea of separating from Catherine.

“I can’t have both of us in the same place,” Catherine tries. “It’s far safer here.”

“Anne’s been warding this flat for ages now,” Maggie says. “We’ll be the safest here.”

“And let you lot go alone? I think not-” Maria starts, but Catherine shakes her head.

“You’re staying here, Maria de Salinas,” Catherine says; Maria cringes at the use of the full name. “That’s final.”

Maria can’t really argue with that.

Half an hour later, the three remaining queens are out in the alley where Jane’s phone was found. Anne looks around before she summons a ball of light into her hands.

“Okay, so he used a haze spell here,” she mumbles, “and then brought her over this way. Feels like Kat and Parr came too.” 

They walk in that direction silently for a few minutes, following Anne’s lead. Eventually, Aragon speaks up.

“Who do you pray to, Anne?” Aragon has to ask. “I’ve seen you do it plenty of times. I thought-”

“Yeah, not the god you’re thinking of,” Anne says. “A goddess, actually. There’s three: a goddess, a god and the three fates. At least, for me, that’s how it works. I generally get my powers from praying to the goddess, though most of my family prayed to the god.” 

Aragon frowns, and Anne can’t help but smirk when she looks at her. “Sacrilege, I know. Feel free to smite me or whatever.”

“I just…” Aragon frowns. “I’m not sure what to think of all this.”

“You don’t really have a choice, to be honest,” Anne replies with a shrug. She stops suddenly.

“Trail ends here,” she mumbles. She looks around; they’re just at a dead end. 

“So, what, are they gone?” Anna asks, almost afraid to do so.

Anne conjures up another sigil in the air and, when activated, it reveals a blue mist that surrounds all of them. 

When it clears, it forms into a ball and rests in Anne’s hands. She clutches it and her eyes go blue for a moment before they fade.

“They were here, but then they got help from whoever the patron is,” Anne reports. “Looks like a eldritch patron- yikes. Those are the worst.” She looks back at the other two. “Think HP Lovecraft. Honestly one of the worst patrons you can have, but definitely the most powerful.” She frowns, watching as the orb fades into nothing. “He’s very serious about being quick about this.”

“Why quick?” Anna asks.

“Eldritch patrons usually establish a one-and-done sort of contract,” Anne explains. “They give people ultimate power, but only for a very short time.”

“So he’s looking to get rid of all of us quickly?” Aragon asks. 

Anne nods. “That’s why you all were asleep and why it spread to the others quickly. Because of the contract he has with his patron.” she shakes her head.

“We’ll need to figure this out quickly. If we don’t-”

“Anne!”

Boleyn yelps as, suddenly, tendrils arise from the ground in front of her. She backs up and gets in front of the other two.

Spikes of darkness start to be thrown at them. Anne summons a ward and blocks them from hurting her or her fellow queens.

“Get back to the main street!” Anne yells.

As they rush, they’re continuously pursued by the darkness spikes, but Anne blocks them all. By the time they’re at the street - with other people around - the attacks have stopped.

The tendrils have disappeared.

Elsewhere, through a globe of darkness, Henry can hardly believe his eyes.

“She’s… she was honestly a witch,” he says in disbelief. “By god, she was-”

** _“Do you not remember our terms?”_ **

He freezes in terror before he looks over at the massive inky darkness of countless eyes that hovers before him. He scowls.

“Of course I do,” he growls out. “But we haven’t figured it out yet, so I have nothing to offer you.”

**_“You should soon, Henry,_**” the blob says. **_“Tomorrow will be your final day, regardless of your progress. Find out how your queens have returned, and I shall grant your power permanently.”_** The blob moves right up to Henry. Thousands of eyes are upon him; he’s terrified. 

** _“If you fail to meet the terms of our agreement… well, you’ve seen what I do to those who fail me.”_ **

Henry, submissive for the moment, gulps and nods. “Of… of course, patron. I will see to it that our contract is fulfilled.”

The blob pulls back.

** _“Good.”_ **

The patron disappears.

Henry looks back at the darkness and almost growls in frustration; Anne Boleyn, that wretched girl, was the reason why he couldn’t have just taken everyone that morning. 

He’ll have to be a bit more dramatic.

An hour later, once everyone has returned to the flat, all of them get an alert of being tagged in something on social media.

“It’s Jane and Parr,” Aragon says. “They’ve re-shared something from… Kitty?”

Sure enough, when everyone looks, they find a video from Katherine, already a few thousand views in.

She clearly looks unwell. Henry is right behind her.

“Tomorrow,” Katherine says, barely with enough energy. “As the clock strikes noon, I will be telling all of the true, unbiased story of my life. I have misled you all. I will set the record straight.”

Anne glares at the Henry on the screen; he’s smug.

“I hope my cousin will come visit for this occasion,” Katherine mumbles. “I’ve begun practicing just like last time. I’ll see you all there.”

And with that, the video ends.

Aragon is furious. “He’s going to make her say things she doesn’t mean, things she doesn’t know she’s saying.”

“We need to find them and fast,” Anne says.

“Well, it’s a good thing we know where they’ll be.” Anna replies, closing her phone casually. When she looks up, she’s surprised that everyone else is staring at her. “What?”

“How do we know that?” Maggie asks, tilting her head.

Anna blinks. “Isn’t it obvious?” she looks at Anne. “Where did she practice last time?”

It only takes a moment.

“The Tower, oh my gods, they’re in the Tower.” Maggie says, eyes wide.

Aragon looks over to Anne. “What’s the plan?”

“We prepare tonight,” Anne says. “We get everything ready. Then tomorrow, we take the fight to them.”

“We’ll be with you every step of the way,” Bessie says.

Maggie, Maria and Joan all nod in agreement. Anne can’t help but smile.

“We’ll get them back, guys. I swear it.”


	3. Legacy

Maria, Joan, and Bessie have no idea what Maggie’s doing in the kitchen.

With the secret out, Maggie had become more overt with her potions preparations, which actually seemed to make her happier than ever. All of the burners on the stove were active, boiling a few multi-colored concoctions that Maggie refused to say its contents - “It’s a secret! And by secret, I mean you probably don’t want to know because you might have to drink it later, ha” - and various different types of vials are laid out on the counter.

“So all of this will help us defeat Henry?” Maria asks, raising an eyebrow as she copies down another symbol on to the paper she was writing on. For preparations, Maggie led the Ladies in Waiting in sigil making and helping her create potions while the queens talked strategy. 

“Sigils can do a lot of things,” Maggie explained with a smile. “They can banish, cleanse, corrupt, empower, contain... a few other things. They’re also called seals for a reason.” she holds up one of Maria’s finished sigils. “This will help us contain, banish and cleanse the darkness.”

“And you said we just... throw it... onto Cathy or Jane when we see them?” Bessie asks, raising an eyebrow.

“No, we’ll need to find their weak point, but that’s on me and my preparations after this. We don’t have time to attune everyone to magicks, so that’ll be on me and Anne.” Maggie looks over at Joan’s sigil and quickly corrects a line before going back to her potions. “For the most part, we just need you all there for when Jane and Cathy are back. We need you all to get them back to safety so we can take on Henry and save Katherine.”

“Makes sense to me,” Maria says with a shrug. “What other stuff can we do? And after this is over, are you gonna teach us more of this?”

Maggie absolutely is excited at the question. 

“Do you... do you want to learn?!? Oh, I’d love that! It’s been ages since I’ve had a proper pupil- here, we can start now! Did you know that a lot of potions can be made into teas? Like gingeroot and lemon can combine with...”

She goes on and on and on, and Catherine can’t help but smile at the girl’s enthusiasm. She can see Anne out of the corner of her eye smiling at her lady in waiting as well.

“She really loves this stuff, she’s been dying to share it with the other ladies for ages,” Anne says with a smile. “With her as their teacher, they could probably learn advanced potions and sigils in no time flat.”

Anna chuckles at that. “Glad someone’s having fun,” she says, though she looks back at Anne. “But we should get back to business.”

Anne sighs and nods.

“Of course. But I’m afraid a lot of your jobs will be to recover the lost. The rest I’ll try to use my Radiant energy for.”

“Radiant?” Catherine asks, raising an eyebrow.

“There’s a certain type of light-based magick that I’ve learned,” Anne replies. “I think that’s our best bet to repel the darkness.” She looks over at Aragon, giving her a gentle smile. “If it helps, Aragon... the magicks are called Blessed Magicks. They’re given by the goddess.”

Aragon frowns. “Goddess?”

Anne nods. “And only people who have the purest of intentions and want to help can even conjure it up. If you don’t have the purest of intentions at heart, it will burn you instead- or worse, abandon you altogether.”

Aragon is listening very closely.

Anne continues.

“Way back when - farther back than our previous life - there were warriors who wielded the light against the darkness. They were called the Blessed. Nowadays, though, that magick is available to everyone.”

Aragon nods. 

“I promise,” Anne says gently, putting a hand on Aragon’s shoulder. “It’ll save us. I know it.”

A beat.

“... and if it doesn’t, well, that’s what the sigils are for. Could just do it the old-fashioned way, get him to hit into a sigil and trap him in a pocket universe, but that seems far less likely.”

“Why is it less likely?” Anna asks.

“Because there’s no way I can do that alone. I’d need someone else to help with the setting that up when Henry is around and I...” she sighs. “The plan is for you lot to never have to worry about Henry at all. You save the three queens, I take care of him.”

“Isn’t that dangerous?” Catherine asks, tilting her head.

“It is, but this is my fight. He became far more aggressive when he learned I was a witch.” she sighs. “This is my responsibility.”

“But we’re Six,” Anna presses, not caring how cliche it sounds. “We do this together, or not at all.”

“We’ll be together,” Anne replies, “but have different roles. If things go well, you lot will be safe and sound by the time I hit Henry and, possibly, Katherine. Actually, definitely Katherine, now that I’m thinking about it. He’ll likely keep her close.”

Catherine looks warily at Anne’s hands. “And you can control that, right? So it doesn’t hurt anyone else?”

Anne raises an eyebrow. “I’ve had decades of practice-”

“But you said it yourself, you didn’t use your powers a lot,” Catherine replies. “How can we be sure?”

Anne sighs.

“Do you trust me, Catherine of Aragon?”

She wants to say something, she really does, but Catherine of Aragon doesn’t really know what to do. So, she simply nods again.

“I trust you, Anne,” she says softly. “It’s just... it’s a lot to put my head around.”

“I know,” Anne replies sympathetically. “But we’ll get through this, and hopefully I’ll never have to really use these blasted magicks ever again.” A pause before she smirks. “At least, not the combat magicks. Anna already asked if I could make her taller so she could mess with Parr.”

Aragon chuckles, rolling her eyes at that, before she settles. “We’ll follow your lead, then,” Aragon decides. “Whatever you need-”

She’s cut off, though, by a tight hug from Anne.

“Thank you,” Anne says.

Aragon hugs back.

A moment later, the ladies in waiting arrive.

“We’re ready... just, uh, someone’s gonna have a really bad time doing dishes later, sorry,” Maggie says slightly apologetically.

“Alright, ladies, get ready. We’re headed to the Tower for the livestream, then we’re disrupting the livestream, then we’re taking down a champion of a god.” Anne smirks at the rest of them.

“Sound like a plan?”

The others nod in agreement.

A few hours later, they’re exactly where they need to be.

Catherine of Aragon walks around the tower, towards the area where this so-called “big announcement” was supposed to be taking place. It’s the exact place where the stage was when Anne was executed, she notes, and she can’t help but notice Anne tensing when she realizes it.

“The idiot’s got a flare for the dramatics still, I’ll give him that,” Anne mumbles. She looks at the screens that are on either side of the stage. “That’ll probably go live when the stream goes live. Anything yet, Joan?”

Joan shakes her head. “Nothing.”

“Alright.” Anne nods, moving towards the back. They’re now hidding in a corridor in the outer wall, away from the majority of prying eyes; based on what Anne’s seen, they should be safe here. “Maggie, can you set it up-?”

Just as she starts that, however, the screens flicker on.

Joan’s eyes go wide as the livestream starts on her phone. “It’s starting!”

They all look towards the stage.

Katherine is standing there, looking completely ill. She’s shaking as she stands, eyes glassed over. 

Anne glares before she simply stands up.

“Alright. That’s it. Maggie, we’re going with your plan.”

“Really?!?” she says, perking up considerably. “Oh, okay!”

She suddenly rushes away from the Ladies in Waiting, digging into her bag as she does so. Maggie takes out a piece of chalk and writes on the ground, adding a few symbols and the like to a circle she’s created.

A sigil, Maria realizes. She’s making a sigil.

When she’s done, Maggie steps back to admire her handiwork for a moment, then she adds a few things to the outside of the circle - offerings of lavender, sage, a candle, something Maria doesn’t recognize - before she steps back completely.

“Whatever you’re doing, do it quick,” Maria says, looking up. “They’re about to start.” 

Anne nods, stepping inside the circle without delay. She extends her hands, closing her eyes before she starts writing in the air; once again, blue magicks trail from her fingertips, forming multiple shapes in the air, until she jabs her hand through the writing. 

It somehow sparks an electric current to run through her arms. With a grimace, Anne steadies herself before she quickly shoots a bolt of lightning into the air, hand remaining raised to the sky.

At first, nothing happens.

But then, quickly, the sky clouds up.

Anne, with a smirk, brings her hand down.

The heavens open and it starts to downpour, lightning striking all around the area. Katherine’s eyes slowly close and she falls backwards, landing unceremoniously onto the ground. She disappears into shadows as the rest of the crowd scatters in panic.

The feed is cut.

Henry collects Katherine, just in time to spot Anne from the crowd.

He, Jane and Cathy leave, Howard in tow.

Anne smirks.

“Let’s go.”

They move together.

Anne and Maggie are rushing forward, Anne still have lightning crackling around her arms. Joan and Maria are second up, then Anna and Catherine, then Bessie. They enter the Tower of London in all the chaos. They all look around, trying to find any indication that Katherine was nearby, but the hallways are empty.

“How do we even know if they’re here?” Maria asks, walking a bit farther than the others down the hall. 

“They have to be, he wouldn’t dare leave them on their own,” Anne presses. She is about to turn to the others until she spots someone approaching Maria.

“Maria!” Catherine yells, quick to move forward, but it’s too late.

Maria yelps as she is suddenly grabbed, a blade held to her throat.

Maria tries to struggle, but her attacker holds firm. Catherine’s eyes widen.

“Cathy?”

Sure enough, Catherine Parr was standing behind Maria. The girl was shaking, eyes fully black as she pulls Maria with her down the hall.

“If you want her alive,” Parr growls out, “you’ll stay out of our way.” She glares at Anne. “You especially, witch.”

Anne narrows her eyes.

“Maggie, be ready.”

“Of course,” Maggie replies, moving behind Joan as she rustles about in her bag. “Be safe.”

Anne closes her eyes for a moment, channeling her energy...

... and then suddenly, Maria is on the floor next to Catherine of Aragon and both Parr and Anne are locked in close combat.

Parr snarls at Anne, narrowing her eyes as the tendrils of darkness that are coming from her try to thrash out. Anne winces as one hits her cheek, but she keeps going, keeps fighting.

“Catherine!” Aragon yells, “Please!”

Parr throws Anne off of her and snarls again, this time getting down on all fours before she propels herself towards her godmother, attempting to take the fight to the non-magickal one, but again, Anne manages to counter with lightning-fast speeds.

“Damn you!” Cathy yelled, quick to turn back to Anne.

Anne holds her own.

“Do you see where, Maggie?” Anne asks as she continues to fight the girl in front of her. “Come on, Cathy, need you awake now-”

“The back of her head! It’s right there!” Maggie says, quick to pull out two potions. One, she passes to Maria to drink. The other, she throws directly at the ground in front of Anne and Cathy.

Cathy yelps and stumbles backwards, trying not to get hit by the bottle, which makes her completely caught off guard for Maggie to rush forward and put some sort of paper on the back of her head. Parr yelps, then gasps, then slowly sinks to the floor as the darkness leaves her.

“Cathy?” Catherine asks, quick to grab the girl. “Catherine?”

“She’ll be okay in a moment,” Anne promises. “It needs some time to settle.” She looks over at the others. “Maria, Catherine, and Bessie, stay here. Anna, Maggie, Joan, and I will go take the fight to Seymour.”

“Are we safe here?” Maria asks, having drank the potion. She seems better already. “Are you honestly sure?”

“If you head outside - where there’s natural sunlight - you’ll be okay,” Maggie says. “IT can’t get to you or Parr there.”

Catherine of Aragon nods. “We’ll head outside, but girls...” she looks directly at Anne for this. “Be safe.”

Anne keeps her gaze for a moment before she nods, moving away.

They rush into the hallways that seem to twist and turn and take forever to go down.

“This isn’t normal,” Anna observes.

Joan nods. “This place wasn’t nearly as big.”

“It’s the magicks,” Maggie says with a sigh. “He’s bewitched this place. We may not even technically be in the Tower anymore, just connected to it through different universes.” 

Anne shakes her head with a sigh before she suddenly stops. She smirks.

“Finally, it’s about damned time you showed yourself.”

Darkness starts to form around the women, creating a little dome around them.

“Don’t touch the dark,” Anne says, getting into a ready stance. She holds up a flame with a smirk. “He got to you a bit more than Cathy, didn’t he, Jane?”

Sure enough, out of the shadows, Jane Seymour makes her grand entrance.

“Parr wasn’t a willing subject,” Jane replies, voice cold as ice; so cold that it made the others shiver.

Anne raised an eyebrow. “And you were?”

“To protect them, yes.”

“Of course. Let’s get this over with, yeah?”

The darkness starts to move in, but Anne is able to fend it off slightly with her flames and light. When Jane extends a hand, the darkness surges, but Anne quickly ignites the flame into Radiant energy - a type of light energy - and it helps fend off the darkness.

Jane tilts her head. “So unwilling to die, eh, Boleyn? I thought you learned the last time-”

“Oh, my _god_, can you just tell me where the hell her weakspot is, Maggie?” she asks, head tilting back towards the others as she continues to hold the Radiant magic like a shield against Jane’s abilities. “She’s getting real annoying-”

“Got it!”

That’s exactly what Maggie said as she suddenly appeared from behind Jane. Maggie, having drank a potion herself, had faded into the background and snuck up on the third queen, finding the weak spot in order to save her. Jane tried to spin back around to find her, but unfortunately was too slow; instead, Maggie put the seal on Jane’s neck, causing her to collapse and the darkness to subside.

“Guess we dodged a bullet there, eh, Mags?” Anne asks with a smile. “That would have been bad.”

“Well, we’ve got the two down,” Joan says, walking over to kneel next to her mistress. She puts Jane’s head in her lap. “What next?”

“Now, we’ve got the boss battle,” Anne explains. “You lot stay here.”

“What? No!” Maggie yells, eyes wide, but Anne shakes her head.

“You know as well as I do there’s little chance to escape this place alive, let alone in the right dimension, if we’re in the room when Henry falls,” Anne says gently. “I’ll get Katherine out safe. But I can’t risk any of you going with me. And besides, Mags, you’re the only one that knows the way back. You gotta get the others to safety.”

Anne smiles brightly at the scared lady in waiting, kissing her forehead.

“I’ll be fine.”

“No, _we’ll_ be fine.”

Anne looks over to find Anna stepping up to her. “I’m not letting you do this alone, Boleyn. Magick or no magick, you need backup. You’ve been tag-teaming with Maggie here, and without her... this could go really bad. I can get Katherine while you fight him, and we can end his tirade.”

Anne considers it.

“You... you may not be able to come back. I might be able to only pick one of us. This could be a death mission.”

“But would it or would it not increase Katherine’s chances of surviving?”

“It would.”

“Then what are we waiting for?”

Anne sighs but nods, looking back at Maggie. “I trust you and Joan are able to get out of here. Meet up with the others. Explain what’s happened. And... tell them I’m sorry.”

Anna nods. “We’ll see them soon.”

“Wait!” Maggie says, moving to Anna. She gives her something - a paper? No, Anna realizes, it’s a sigil. “You’ll know when to use it.”

Anna, with a soft nod, smiles. “Make sure everyone’s good, but especially Bessie, alright?”

With that, Anne and Anna rush away, leaving the third queen in the hands of two ladies in waiting.

They get to the top of an impossibly tall staircase just in time to see the door open. It’s quiet up in this tower - wherever they are - and it causes Anne to pause.

“Last chance, Anna,” Anne says. “You can find your way back from here, you still have time-”

“Enough of this,” Anna replies. “We’re going.”

Anne, with a nod, pushes forward.

Katherine Howard was in the center of the room, body levitating in the air. She’s wearing exactly what she wore back then - back when she died. She’s still got that lifeless, mid-panic-attack look on her face, gasping for air as her eyes are blown wide.

To Anna, she’s just floating.

But to Anne, all she can see is a veil of darkness surrounding her cousin.

“Gods protect me,” she mumbles; as close to a prayer as she’ll get.

She walks inside, Anna close behind her. They reach Katherine.

The door closes immediately. 

Boleyn expected that.

Darkness pulses towards her but she’s quick to turn and ward herself, protecting herself and Cleves from the attacks. Anne stands in front of Anna and Katherine, defending them as much as she is herself.

When she sees the darkness walking towards her, she cringes; it’s a gelatinous, hideous creature, half-beast and half-man. 

“What even is that?” Anna asks, eyes wide.

But Anne already knows.

“You really have gone far deeper than you ever should have, Henry.”

He roars - an unnatural sound, a completely demonic sound - as he grows in size, gelatinous blob that he currently is, and attacks. He swipes at Anne, but she blocks it and Anna dodges. He continues his animalistic rampage, screaming and charging and clawing towards the other two women.

Anne gets a few good hits on him with holy fire, but she fears it won’t be enough. 

“Anna, take Katherine when you can!” Anne calls, quick to make sure the girl did what she was told. Unfortunately, it was a moment too late, and now Henry had an opening.

He quickly pounces on top of her, catching her off guard, and she falls to the ground. The darkness surrounds them.

Anne’s eyes go wide and she feebily tries to move, but it’s no use; she’s been bested. She’s lost-

\- or, at least, she would have, if Anna of Cleves hadn’t just pummeled the massive black blob with a nearby chair.

With strength Anna didn’t realize she truly had, she whacks the thing off of Anne and sends it sprawling towards the sigil on the wall - the sigil Maggie gave to Anna. As soon as Henry hits it, the sigil activates, a blinding light engulfing the room. 

When the light fades, Henry is successfully vanquished.

Anne looks over at Anna, eyes wide.

“That... Anna of Cleves, you legend!”

Anna laughs, offering Anne a hand. “That worked, right?”

“That was brilliant!” Anne says, so incredibly hyped at the turn of events. “You might have just saved us all, babes.”

“Just another Tuesday, I suppose,” Cleves replies with a wink as Anne takes her hand to stand up. “Though I guess saving you lot from a demon rather than Jane’s wrath is a bit more notable.” Anna looks behind Boleyn. “Now I think Kitty needs your help.”

Anne looked over and instantly rushes to the girl; she’s still barely breathing, eyes wide, seemingly frozen in a mid-panic attack scenario. With a gentle prayer, her hands glow and she lays them on Katherine’s forehead.

Color returns to Katherine’s face as she suddenly gasps to life, body spasming as she finally intakes the air needed. Anna is quick to move over to hold onto her oldest friend as Anne works her maigck to heal her up a bit.

“What’s-?” Kat asks; she feels like she’s surfacing after being in water for ages.

“It’s alright, Kit,” Anne says gently. “You’re alright.”

“Mum,” Kat says. “And... oh, god, Anna, I-”

“It’s alright, it wasn’t you,” Anna says gently. “There’s a lot of things to explain. We can do that later. What matters right now is getting everyone back home and safe.”

Katherine looks down at her clothes and frowns. “I’ve... I didn’t change into these.”

“You didn’t, that’s correct,” Anne says, nodding at Anna. Cleves picks the girl up with a smile as Anne continues. “Again, lots to explain. I’ll do that later. For now, Kit, just rest.”

Katherine quickly obliges.

The door they opened to enter the room doesn’t lead to the same winding hallway that was once there; instead, it’s directly outside, right to the others. 

Cathy is leaning against Maria’s shoulder as Catherine looks her over. Joan and Maggie, meanwhile, tend to Jane’s scratches.

Bessie had been guarding the door, but sighs in relief when she sees her mistress and the other two queens arrive.

“I take it everything’s been sorted?” Bessie asks. 

“As much as it can be,” Anna replies with a nod. “We... kind of don’t know what’s happened, but he’s gone now, banished with that sigil you gave me, Maggie.”

“Oh! That’s my best work yet,” she says with a smile. “He’ll not be back for centuries, and when he does return, I imagine his patron will have a very, _very_ long discussion on him about obliging terms of a contract.”

Katherine looks around and gasps when she sees the state Jane and Cathy are in.

Jane, just barely managing to get up, smiles. “Hello, Kat,” she says quietly, moving over to the girl. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“Thanks for saving us, everyone,” Cathy says, not daring to leave her godmother’s grasp. “That darkness... it was so scary.”

“It’s alright now, love,” Catherine says gently. “We’re okay.”

Jane kisses Katherine’s forehead, smiling when Kat smiles back. She looks over at Anna and mouths a quick ‘thank you’ before looking over at Anne.

“What’s next, now? Is there anything we can do?”

“Probably no, not that I know of, anyways,” Anne replies. “Maggie and I will work with some mages around the area to monitor the Tower, make sure it isn’t doing anything wonky. But beyond that, we just... go on with our normal lives.”

“Can we do that when we know about you now?” Maria asks, raising an eyebrow. “About both of you?” she nods at Maggie.

Maggie and Anne look at each other for a moment before Anne gently wraps an arm around Maggie’s shoulders. “I guess we can be a bit more covert with our practicing now, eh?” Anne says with a smile. “Finally, I don’t have to wait until all of you are out to telekenetically steal cookies from Jane and blame it on Kat.”

“What?” Jane asks.

“What?” Kat asks.

“That’s personal gain, she wouldn’t dare,” Maggie assures them. Then, with a moment and a look. “Right?”

“Look, the point is,” Anne says, changing the subject entirely, “we’re all okay, and I think I can help make our lives better with this. It’s actually... really, really nice, being able to use my powers. I don’t want to go full-on witch or anything, but... for little stuff, I wouldn’t mind using it, you know?” Anne looks over at Catherine. “If that’s alright with you, anyways.”

Catherine tilts her head in thought for a moment before she nods. “I don’t really... I don’t know what to think about it,” she admits. “But I’m willing to learn more and give it a try. I just...” she sighs, moving over to Anne now. “I’m sorry you didn’t feel comfortable with us to tell us sooner.”

“Oh, no, that wasn’t the issue, the issue was that you could have became targets if you had known,” Anne replies honestly. “Really, Catherine, it wasn’t about trusting you lot. I trust you with my life. It was for your safety.”

Catherine frowns at that. “Well... I hope you know that we’ve got each other’s back, regardless of that.” She smiles and pulls Anne in for a hug. “We love you, Anne, we want to see you happy and safe.”

Anne chuckles. “Funny, I was about to say the same thing for you lot, too.”

There’s a moment before Anne breaks away.

“Alright, everyone. We go home, I cook up dinner, and we hang out. Thank the goddess it’s our off day, I dunno how any of us could possibly do a show after this.”

Anna smiles as she picks up Katherine in a piggy back ride while Jane happily moves with Bessie and Joan. Maggie is happily chatting away with Maria while Catherine and Cathy discuss what happened.

A big, happy family, all fully aware of her abilities and not giving a damn.

Yeah, Anne thought, she could get used to this.


End file.
